DURATION OF MATERNALLY DERIVED ANTIBODIES AGAINST PASTEURELLA MULTOCIDA IN COW CALVES

A. K. MAHMOOD, M. A. SHEIKH, S. AKHTAR, G. NABI¹ AND H. B. RASHID²

Abstract 

     The present study was conducted on 30 pregnant, randomly selected Sahiwal cows and their calves, maintained at a Government Livestock farm. The animals were routinely vaccinated against haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS), using alum-precipitated formalin killed HS bacterin. The antibody titres (GMT) in the sera of vaccinated dams against P. multocida, 15 days before the expected date of parturition and soon after parturition (before feeding colostrum to their young) detected using indirect haemagglutination (IHA) test were 213 and 182, respectively. The antibody titres (GMT) of calves’ sera examined before consuming colostrum and then 6 hours, 3 days, 15 days, 30 days, 45 days and 60 days post-colostrum feeding were 44, 69, 70, 97, 96, 72, and zero respectively, indicating the duration of maternal immunity to be 45 days in the experimental animals. The most startling revelation of this research work is the transplacental transfer of antibodies in Sahiwal cows.

Key words: Maternal immunity, Pasteurella multocida, calves.